Articles for category: Leadership

February 23, 2021

Greg Thomas

Leading Up

When you lead a team, you are presumably the one that everyone knows as the leader that is in that position to lead. Whether it’s by an organization chart, or a discussion among the team, you are the person “at the top” so to say. But when you are Leading Up, you are not, you are somewhere in the middle with a team that has rallied around your skills and recognizes your abilities and “know-how” to deliver on the project you are working on. Take a step further, you are now in the position of leading from that middle to

February 20, 2021

Greg Thomas

The Imagined Rush

When it needs to get done. When we needed it yesterday. When the customer is asking for it. When the project plan says it must be done. Until you look at what you are doing, how you are doing it and where you need to go with it, it’s all imagined, it’s all an idea, it’s all a concept. There is no rush, unless you make one. And if you’re making one, the only people you are hurting is your team.

February 9, 2021

Greg Thomas

Lead With Example

When you Lead By Example, you are taking on the action yourself so that your team can learn from you and identify the best approach to getting their work done. When you Lead With Example, you take your team along for the ride, they are side by side with you, you are growing, developing and learning from one another and you figure out the best approach to getting everyone’s work done.

February 8, 2021

Greg Thomas

Breaking in a New Team

When you are asked to lead an existing team, the idea that you might get to pick your own team quickly evaporates and you have to come to terms with a few things, immediately… This isn’t the team you thought you’d be leading. The work still needs to be delivered. Can this team do it. If not, how will you get them there. Breaking in new team isn’t easy because more often then not, the reason you’ve been put in charge of the team is because there are issues within where they are struggling – apathy, discord, late deliveries, no

February 3, 2021

Greg Thomas

What can I do for my Team?

It doesn’t matter what your role is – developer, product manager, QA, business analyst, tester, leader, manager – the question is still and always will be the same. What can I do for my Team? When it’s all hands on deck and everyone is trying to get a release out the door, it might be something as simple as ordering the takeout (been there). When we’re knee deep in a design session on a customer problem that is going nuclear on us, it could be as simple as pushing out that update meeting. When we’re trying to write requirements while